


Start From The Beginning

by baeksbabygirl



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Apocalypse, Flashbacks, Guns, M/M, Past KaiSoo, References to Illness, implied past taohun, slight mention of hybrid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 04:34:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11775603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeksbabygirl/pseuds/baeksbabygirl
Summary: When the world falls apart, people dying left and right from disease and illness, Kyungsoo finds solace in an abandoned art shop. Until Oh Sehun comes along and takes him home.





	Start From The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt # 64
> 
> A/N: Thank you all so much for reading. I know it's short, but I love this pairing and I hope you all do too <3

“What are you painting?” a voice startled Kyungsoo out of his focus, making him jump inside his own skin.

He didn’t need to turn to see who it was standing right behind him, but he did it anyway. Leader of their little tight-knit group, and their protector if anything went wrong, Oh Sehun had been there from the beginning, moving around the earth throughout the end and rounding up those that he knew would stand the test against time – against the apocalypse.

And somehow that had included a suffering artist like him.

Kyungsoo shook his head, Sehun moving to sit on the low, sinking couch beside where he sat on the floor, brush in one hand and the palette of paints in the other. It was a rare material after the world had ended, but Sehun had promised since the beginning to find every last piece of paint and art to give to Kyungsoo – so that he could paint their grey walls into emerging colors.

Change them into something that didn’t look so damn depressing.

“It’s nothing really.” He finally answered, moving so that he was more comfortable in his place. He had been sitting there for a few hours now without moving – all except for his fingers and arms so that he could paint the scene before him. He had taken to painting the low wall of his bedroom, one of the only places he had not yet painted. Kyungsoo shared the room with Sehun, and though it would have been a good idea to ask if the other boy would have approved of the impromptu painting, Sehun had originally told Kyungsoo he could do whatever he wanted with the walls.

All save for knocking them down. Sehun rather liked the space, no matter how small it was compared to the outside world. This had somehow become home down here.

Sehun dangled an arm close to Kyungsoo, fingers catching on the edge of his rolled up sleeve, tugging gently and asking him without words to come closer. Kyungsoo obeyed silently, if only because he knew the other would whine if he did not come.

It was in these quiet moments that Kyungsoo wondered how Sehun pulled it off so well – the whole, _being a leader_ thing. As if it were second nature, or he was born to do it. Sehun was a leader, he was brave, and he was strong – all in front of everyone. But behind closed doors and in the safety of their own little hole in the wall, he was fragile and sweet. He whined and begged like a puppy for Kyungsoo to pay attention to him. He was soft on the inside, a fact that Kyungsoo had fallen for very slowly since meeting Sehun.

The reality was that Sehun hadn’t been that way when the two had first met. Despite the unpleasantness of it all, Kyungsoo could remember with alarming clarity the events that led to their meeting.

 

_“Do you think they’ll find us in here, hyung?” Jongin had asked Kyungsoo, voice harsh and crawling. He was desperate – they both were – to get away from the danger that was stalking them. The ones that carried the disease had gone mad, absolutely raving mad. Kyungsoo had run before his family could get worse, but Jongin had seen the way it had devolved those in his family. Had seen it and had not wanted to run even though staying longer meant possibly being infected by the disease._

_Infected and then subject to slowly dying, too._

_And now there were those of the infected, diseased, and dying that had started to follow them…_

_It had not taken either of them too long to find a good place to hide – Kyungsoo had just the right place. The art shop that he used to own with his cousin, before he had gotten sick and fell to the disease. Before the natural disasters had come in and destroyed half of the town, taking those out that had not fallen to disease yet. Kyungsoo could remember the weeks on end the disasters had struck down on the other edge of town._

_He could remember where it had taken out half of a hospital in the lower side, along the river, and had nearly split the foundation in half with a quake large enough to uproot several trees and make full houses fall into ditches that hadn’t been there previously._

_Kyungsoo had been sure that would be the end of him. Had seen sure that he was going to see the end right then and there, not living to tell the tale._

_“Hyung!” Jongin yelled, bat in his hand and eyes blown wide with worry._

_The two had gone out to find more rations for themselves, as they had blown out of their supply over the last few weeks. They hadn’t much, but it had been enough. And truly, they hadn’t needed to go out quite yet. But when Jongin had offered, and Kyungsoo had allowed it, neither of them had been exactly expecting anyone to follow them. Kyungsoo had taken the key to the art shop and had promised Jongin, as well as himself, that they would be back in no more than two hours. That was all._

_Two hours later and they were back, but not without someone close on their tails. Jongin thought it was some of the diseased, which had both of them worrying and afraid more than they had been two hours before when they first set out._

_They were dead. Totally and completely dead._

 

Except it hadn’t really happened that way – who they had originally thought were diseased where actually two of Sehun’s group, just following after them to see if there was more people where they were going. They didn’t necessarily want to expand their group, but they also wanted to be sure that those who were immune to the disease came together and survived.

It was how Kyungsoo and Jongin had met Sehun, and at that time Chanyeol…and also how Sehun had recruited Kyungsoo, and how he had been forced to leave Jongin alone.

 

_“You go inside and I’ll fight them off, hyung.” Jongin had said, determined. Kyungsoo wasn’t about to let his friend fend of the diseased on his own though. In fact, he outright forbid it, standing right there beside him until both of them could see the smooth outline of two tall figures._

_One of them had teeth bared like an animal and the other had a gun pointed low to the ground, a warning but also a precaution._

_These couldn’t possibly be two of the diseased, Kyungsoo knew. So he held onto Jongin’s shoulder, telling him to wait before he made any rash moves. The other boy waited as Kyungsoo asked him, but it wasn’t done patiently, whispered words between movements._

_“Who are they?” he whispered, “What do you think they want?”_

_Kyungsoo ignored him for a moment, eyes trying to catch each step the strangers made as they came closer to the store front. Jongin and Kyungsoo were hidden behind the front desk; the glass windows all boarded up so no on could come in without making a damn mess of the place, tearing the wood apart. It had been Jongin’s idea to do that._

_And it had been Kyungsoo’s idea to get the gun, but neither of them had touched it since finding the damned thing._

_The strangers that stalked towards them looked like they knew exactly what to do with a gun. Kyungsoo was just an artist, and Jongin was just a dancer – neither of them really had it in them to shoot a gun, let alone hold one and not quiver where they stood. Neither of their mothers had raised them to be violent._

_Kyungsoo wasn’t going to start now. Not unless his life absolutely depended on it._

“Whatever it is, it’s pretty.” Sehun said, interrupting Kyungsoo’s thoughts and memories for the second time since stepping inside their shared room. His fingers were still playing with the edges of Kyungsoo’s shirt sleeve, but he didn’t mind much. Sehun just needed something to do with his fingers was all. Just as Kyungsoo did – except he had a different outlet for it.

Sehun liked to touch Kyungsoo when he was antsy or unsettled, whereas Kyungsoo liked to paint and draw and design and mold…

Anything he could do with his hands that didn’t include destroying something. Not like he had destroyed Jongin by letting him go…

 

_“Hey, we know you’re here!” one of the strangers called, voice just low enough not to call too much attention to themselves, but loud enough for both Jongin and Kyungsoo to hear. The other stranger didn’t say anything, just stood there beside the other with teeth still bared and looking like he was half animal with the way he was standing._

_Kyungsoo knew that some people had it rough during the end, but hadn’t expected any of those type of people to actual survive._

_Or maybe it was actually a miracle that_ he _had been the one to survive._

_The stranger spoke up again, this time voice a bit softer, “We don’t want to hurt you. We just want to make sure that you’re safe. Are there others with you? Do you have enough food?” there was a pause before he continued, “We have others waiting, too, and we just thought…maybe you’d want somewhere truly safe to return home to.”_

_Jongin glanced at Kyungsoo, whose hand was still placed steady on the other’s shoulder. He raised an eyebrow, wondering what Kyungsoo wanted to do._

_Despite his early thinking, he reached for the gun tucked inside of the compartments in the desk, cold metal biting against his skin as he held it there, and watching as Jongin’s eyes widened in question. But Kyungsoo only shook his head at his friend’s wordless question, knowing better than to use the gun for anything more than a means of defense._

_An artist’s hands were meant only to depict guns in paintings and coal – never to actually shoot them._

_Kyungsoo stood from the desk, and the primal one of the two strangers caught his movement quickly despite the slatted wood panels that marred more than half of his view into the art shop. He could hear the stranger let out a low growl from the back of his throat, and he truly wondered if the stranger was more dog than human._

_It was always a possibility, right?_

_“What do you want?” Kyungsoo asked as he opened the wooden door into the art shop, stance probably not even a little bit right as he held the gun to his side. But even if he looked pathetic with the thing, the two strangers standing before him didn’t comment on it._

_Instead, they introduced themselves, the first nodding his head and extending a hand, despite the fact that they were standing about five feet from one another, too much space between them to extend a hand of his own. The other, the one that had growled and still looked far too cautious and antsy at this new development, well he didn’t so much as move from the other stranger’s side. Like a loyal dog, almost._

_Kyungsoo wondered was that was all about._

_“My name is Oh Sehun. This – .” and he nodded toward the stranger to his left, “Is Chanyeol. We’re like you, survivors of the end. We’d like to get to know you, if you’d let us. We have others back home, too, that we’re sure you’d like to meet. We’re all…immune to the diseases. At least, so we think. None of us have fallen ill despite our proximity to the disease, and we’ve all lost someone important to us. Some of us, many people.” And Sehun looked over at Chanyeol who was still bending as if he didn’t or couldn’t stand to his full height. “We’re…an odd bunch. But I’m sure you and your…companion would fit right in.”_

_The stranger named Sehun nodded toward the art shop, knowing there was someone else hiding in there, someone that Kyungsoo was protecting. Observant, or maybe it was just obvious._

_“And why would we go with you? Why would we trust anyone but ourselves?”_

_Sehun seemed to grin at that, as if he found it funny. He was patting Chanyeol on the back then, the other man straightening his back so that he stood at his full height now. Sehun even made an effort to hand Chanyeol his gun, something that Kyungsoo widened his eyes at. The animal-like Chanyeol only nodded, somehow changing from one thing to another._

_He had seen many things in his life, many terrible, horrible unrighteous things. But he was still finding it hard to believe what he was seeing right now._

_“Your companion stole food from us when you weren’t looking. He found our home and storage a few weeks ago, though he usually only makes it back out to steal from us in the dead of night. Probably when he knows you’re not looking. He’s graceful, almost, in his thievery.” Sehun shrugged, “We would have given him the food if he just asked nicely for it. But we also wanted to see where he was going with it, and who he was bringing it to that he was so desperate.”_

_Kyungsoo glanced back and caught a glimpse of Jongin’s face – Jongin’s face that looked so guilty and sorry at the same time._

_Sehun continued, “When we did finally find you, we thought it would be best to introduce ourselves first. We don’t want any ill will between us. I would welcome both of you with us, but I don’t want to endanger my group. Only the immune can come along.”_

_This statement was even more confusing than the scene before him. When the earth had fallen, disease and disaster tearing everyone apart, he had heard the word “immune” several times over. It was such a rare thing, and his parents had told him before they had fallen ill that he was one of the immune. That of the many hundreds, thousands in his generation, there would be more to survive than any of the others. If there two children born into a family, only one would survive the disease._

_Only one was supposed to survive the end. It was their cruel god’s way of consuming overpopulation. It was the only way they could start from the beginning._

_“What is that supposed to mean?” Kyungsoo asked, eyes narrowing dangerously on the two. The one named Chanyeol growled a warning, as if just narrowing his eyes was seen as a threat, but then Kyungsoo noticed that Jongin had stepped out from the safety of their shop and was making his way to stand beside Kyungsoo._

_Jongin clarified more on what Sehun was saying, “He’s right. I snuck out while I was supposed to be on watch, just to see if there was more food. We were running out so fast, and I knew that you wouldn’t agree to go out to find some. So I found their stash and took enough in the hopes that they wouldn’t realize some was missing, and enough that you wouldn’t notice we had more food than we did the day previous.”_

_Silence between all four of them before Sehun spoke up in that slightly commanding, dominant voice of his. “And he kept coming back, day after day. So after the fourth day, we set up a chemical trap. We didn’t touch anything more than to set the trap. We just wanted to see if you were immune or not. There are certain chemical, hormonal trails left behind by those that aren’t immune. Rashes and sores that start to fester on someone’s body when they’re exposed to disease, and when it starts to wear away someone’s body.”_

_Kyungsoo had an idea of where this was going, and after looking at Jongin beside him, he didn’t want to know – or see – the truth of what they were explaining to him._

_He didn’t want anything to do with the two strangers in front of him._

“Soo.” Soft voice and an evident beg sounding from the back of Sehun’s throat without there being any more words added to rally his cause – his need. Just the sound of his name, like a soft coo from the tip of Sehun’s tongue.

There had once been a time where Kyungsoo would have cursed and spat on him, the memories all too familiar and cloying for him to forget them within the amount of time the two had spent together. When Kyungsoo had first come to the safe house, they had not shared a room, had certainly not shared a bed.

It had taken him months to get over what Sehun had made Kyungsoo do – abandon Jongin there at the shop to die. But he was diseased, Sehun had said, Jongin only confirming the accusation. Doing so by lifting his shirt and showing the rash spreading across his torso. Something that he had kept carefully hidden from Kyungsoo for the last few months.

He remembered what Jongin had said about how he had found out about it, and how he had decided it was best not to tell Kyungsoo for fear that he would abandon him. And that he would die alone.

Jongin had been selfish – but he had been right.

 

_“You didn’t tell me.” He had whispered, looking at the pink mess of flesh beneath Jongin’s shirt, before he had tugged it back down to hide the shame of the disease spreading topically on his skin. He looked ashamed of himself as he answered Kyungsoo._

_“I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t want it to be an issue even. Part of me wished that it just…went away. But I also didn’t want to die alone, and after a while I knew I was going to die. And I knew it was going to hurt you, knew that it was going to hurt me. But I wanted just a few more weeks, a few more months with you, hyung.”_

_Kyungsoo didn’t know what to say to that – wasn’t sure if he could say anything really. But there was Sehun with all the words he couldn’t say._

_“There’s never a good enough reason to lie.” Sehun said, but then he sighed and apologized, “Sorry, I don’t really know either of you. But my offer remains for those of you that are immune, and do not have the spread of disease on you. Come with us back to our safe house. It’s dangerous out here.” And the boy looked around as if something really was out there, dangerous and lurking and waiting to jump out at anytime. Kyungsoo had felt a similar instinct in the back of his head, which was just one of the reasons why he hadn’t wanted the two of them to go out of the shop in the first place._

_Though, he supposed if they hadn’t come outside, then Kyungsoo wouldn’t have learned the truth. He wouldn’t have found out that Jongin was dying – and also lying to him._

_Whatever had happened though, the truth was out there and it would dig its small hole inside of him until he was a rotting mess, nothing but a corpse. Just like everyone else on the damned planet. Praying to their gods and hoping it would save them, only for it to come back to haunt them, to rot their minds and play tricks on their facilities._

_The world had gone to hell and Kyungsoo had watched it. He wasn’t about to watch his best friend die, too. Not about to watch as Jongin became someone he couldn’t trust. The way the disease warped the infected minds’ was…too much for him to handle._

_So maybe he would regret it later, going with these strangers, but there a survival instinct in him that won out over a lasting friendship. Just as it had won out over staying with his family when they contracted the diseases that tore them all apart. He had run and hid and played it safe. And Kyungsoo was going to do it again now, even if his mind would tell him otherwise in a week, a month, a year._

_He would still do it._

“You’re so far away right now.” Sehun commented.

Kyungsoo finally broke from the last of the memory, so much of it still playing through his had, but deciding to lay it to rest for the night. There were too many memories, too many things he didn’t even want to remember. Others had lost their friends and family, too, but unlike them he couldn’t seem to shake losing Jongin. Even as close as he was to Sehun, even growing so close that he had learned to love the man…it still ached and burned in his chest after thinking too much of it.

Kyungsoo shrugged before leaning back, leaning into Sehun’s touch. Sehun’s hand dragged down close to Kyungsoo as it dangled from the low couch where he sprawled. Kyungsoo made a little effort to nestle his face into the crook of Sehun’s arm, right between the couch cushions. But it was comfortable to a degree, and a welcome distraction from his thoughts. It was an even more welcome distraction when Sehun crept forward from his perch atop the couch and pressed his lips to the column of Kyungsoo’s neck, the sensation warming him, but also making him shiver.

There was quiet except for the sound of their slow kisses, and then Sehun made a comment, frowning while he did so. “You’ve been so distracted these days,” and he continued to ask, “Why don’t you paint happy things for me?”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened a little bit. Sehun had never any requests or any issue with the things that he had painted around the outpost, never any issue with the things that Kyungsoo painted in general – whether they were on the very few canvas they still had left, or torn rags that were no good anymore but to wipe of his brushes, or Sehun’s own body when he was in the mood. There had been countless times when Kyungsoo would waste a bit of paint just for the freeing sensation of seeing Sehun’s muscles move and curve around his brushes. He usually painted in shades of grey, spirals and swirls and stars, all alight on Sehun’s back. It always looked like a masterpiece when he was done – though he had a feeling that had more to do with the fact that it now took home on Sehun’s skin.

Either way, Sehun wasn’t wrong about the theme in many of Kyungsoo’s paintings. Though they weren’t downright depressing, they weren’t vibrant and colorful like his art used to be. They were…stale, and maybe it was because his mind had roamed elsewhere the past several months since being in the safe house.

“What do you want me to paint?” he asked, fingers coming up to fit loosely through Sehun’s hair, which was growing too long again. He kept his own hair short, cutting it himself when it became too much of a burden. He didn’t like it in his face, didn’t like the tickle of his own hair against his skin. He didn’t much care or mind if it was Sehun’s hair against his skin as that was an almost completely different sensation, but he still kept it short for that reason.

Sehun edged forward, legs pulling up and feet coming down on the cold floor of the room they shared. He shrugged before lunging up from his seat on the lower couch and went towards the half-done painting Kyungsoo had already been working on. There were black and greens there now, the green just bright enough to stick out against the brown and black, and then the grey of the wall.

“Paint me one of those exotic flowers Jongdae is always talking about, with those books of his. Paint me something pretty to hang up on the walls, to make it look like we haven’t lost the ability to go outside for an extended amount of time.” He paused, “Paint me something that will make me forget we had to start from the beginning, trapped up in here like caged animals.”

As if to lend emphasis to his words, there was a growl by the door, both of them knowing exactly who it was that had come to stop for a visit.

Sehun leaned down without a word, kissing Kyungsoo soft on the lips and not pulling away until he got a kiss back. He was stubborn like that, but Kyungsoo kissed him back anyway, smiling to himself even after the man had pulled away from him.

“I’ll be back.” He said, almost regrettably, but he knew where Sehun was going and only nodded. More food was needed – Chanyeol and Sehun searching the above to see if there were any other survivors. A man named Junmyeon had just joined them last month, and though they had lost plenty since the first time Sehun had opened this place to others, there was a whole network of people down in the tunnels of their safe house.

So many that sending out two people was a risk they were all willing to take, even if it meant sending out there leader.

Though none of them had much of a choice in the matter – Sehun was adamant about that one aspect of this whole thing. He did what he wanted, when he wanted. But he also made sure it was for the good of his people.

After all, they were some of the last on earth right?

 

Chanyeol and Sehun were gone for a few days, just as they always were, but when they returned, Kyungsoo had finished his painting inside their shared room.

It had started off as just a canvas of color, and he hadn’t been completely sure what he was doing with it until Sehun had suggested one of those exotic flowers in Jongdae’s books. He couldn’t quite remember what they looked like – and he wanted to please Sehun, so he stepped out of the room while the other half of the painting dried.

As soon as he went flipping through Jongdae’s books – of which he was very protective – Kyungsoo had found what he was looking for.

He had returned back to the room with vigor, and had set to work on the floor, only moving when the painting had become large enough, growing just like the flowers that likely lived outside of their safe house. None of them were allowed to bring plants or flowers inside unless they were part of the herbs they used for cooking. They boiled them down, or washed them just to be sure there wasn’t anything dangerous left on them.

Flowers after the end had become poisonous and deadly. None of them were sure which plants to trust. All except Jongdae, who was constantly in and out looking for ingredients they could cook with down in the safe house kitchen. Which, in truth, was a small room off the larger farming station they had built inside the cave system.

Sehun had said he read something of the sort in a book before the end, and had adapted his own version of the story so that they could all survive down here. Kyungsoo had been more and more impressed the longer he stayed in the safe house.

And he felt more and more safe down in the caves than he ever had in that abandoned art shop all those months ago.

 

When Sehun returned, he did not go immediately to his and Kyungsoo’s room, but when he did get there he stood in the doorway with his jaw wide open, completely speechless. He had often said nice things about Kyungsoo’s paintings, even before he had moved into the safe house. Just cleaning out the art shop and taking the things that Kyungsoo absolutely could not part with…

Sehun had been most impressed with his color pieces, always saying how vibrant they were against the stark grey walls. Looking at the compound pieces Kyungsoo had made from the ashes of the dead – built from the remains of fires that he did not know why or how they started. He only collected the ashes, trying not to touch his face afterwards, and being very careful when he placed them down on canvas to create scenes he had missed. From movies and books and real like memories that he wanted to preserve.

Working with the ashes – whether they were remains of the dead, or from buildings long since burnt down – was a difficult, but rewarding process. Just as working with the paints were. The way Kyungsoo worked with the paint, it went a long way. But he also made sure to stack it on thick enough so that it would last on the walls for a while.

Sehun stepped into the room for an entire wall to be covered in vibrant colors – solid greens, yellow-white, red-orange, and even a hint of blue lilac that had been stretched together to make the sky above the beautiful flowers.

There wasn’t just one either, but several scattered all across the room. There was the one large flower that took up all of one wall with its bright colors – flower of paradise, Kyungsoo explained to Sehun when he stepped into the room speechless. Three leaves, he explained, for the past, the present, and the future. And then the flower itself with its six petals to signify the six people that Sehun and Kyungsoo had either left behind or lost along the way. Kyungsoo had left Jongin, and had lost his two parents. Whereas Sehun had lost Zitao, Luhan, and Kris – the three friends he had lost during the end. All of them lovers in some way, shape, or form. Kyungsoo had not asked for a more in depth description of them, or of his love towards them.

It had not mattered where he was concerned, and he certainly tried not to think of those that had died during the end when Sehun was atop him, or when they lying beside each other. Equals in many things.

When Kyungsoo explained the meaning behind the exotic flower, he couldn’t help but try to gauge Sehun’s reaction to the whole thing – did he like it? Did he hate it?

But before he was able to ask, Sehun crushed him into the bed, making both of them go flying into the mattress and bumping their heads slightly against the walls before Sehun was kissing up into Kyungsoo’s jaw, reaching for his plump lips and wanting nothing more than to show his affection and gratitude towards the entire piece. Sehun hadn’t even looked at every fine detail of the painting yet. There were little things hidden within, little double meaning that would take at least an hour or two to get all the stories out. Stories of Kyungsoo’s past, and then of little bits and pieces from what he had learned from Sehun, too.

“I love it.” his lover said, usually serious face lighting with a smile and those crescent eyes that Kyungsoo loved more than anything else in the world. “I love it so much.”

Kyungsoo honestly wasn’t sure what to say – there were too many thoughts running through his head. He wanted to say thank you to Sehun, too, for saving him, for letting him stay here, for loving Kyungsoo despite his solitary, odd nature. Not many people loved artists like him – especially not ones that masked their emotions in their paintings, those that didn’t speak aloud when things were bothering them.

Sehun understood though, and that was one of the things Kyungsoo loved most about him.

“I love _you_.” He whispered, burying his face into Sehun’s neck and sniffing up along his collarbones. He smelled like fresh rain and sunlight. Kyungsoo was sure he smelled of dirt and hard paint, the colors dotting along his skin in wide sweeps, marking up his fingers so that, even though most of it had dried over the last day, it still marked up parts of Sehun’s skin where Kyungsoo touched him.

Just a light dotting of color – blues and orange and green. Sehun looked like a living flower now, too. And Kyungsoo couldn’t help but kiss him roughly, dragging him down to meet his lips.

And to think that he would have never experienced any of this if the world hadn’t ended. If the world hadn’t ended and they had all been forced to start from the beginning.


End file.
